Feisty Madonna mixes themes with Bush bashing

By Don ChareunsyUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 23, 2006

CHRIS PIZELLO / Associated Press

Madonna performed Sunday night at Inglewood's Great Western Forum, launching her “Confessions Tour.” The singer stepped it up a few notches, breaking the show into four segments and taking a few political shots at President Bush.

INGLEWOOD – The third time's the real charm for the onetime Material Girl turned Material Mom of Lourdes and Rocco.

Madonna's 2001 “Drowned World Tour” and 2004 “Reinvention Tour” were excellent concerts, as she is the ultimate live performer, but she stepped it up a few notches for this year's “Confessions Tour.”

Opening night Sunday at the Great Western Forum began and concluded without a hitch. Madonna, whose ripped and muscled body belies her 47 years, broke her confessions into four categories: Equestrian, Bedouin, Never Mind the Bollocks and Disco. I'm not certain how nomadic Arabs and the name of a Sex Pistols album are defined as “confessions,” but it didn't stop the audience from showing its eardrum-piercing appreciation.

Half the set was devoted to songs from her latest No. 1 album, “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” The concert kicked off with a giant silver disco ball lowered to the stage. Madonna then emerged in black leather equestrian gear singing “Future Lovers.” Next was a surprisingly solid cover of Donna Summer's disco classic “I Feel Love”; “Get Together,” a rollicking version of “Like a Virgin” that had Madonna gyrating on a large black saddle with silver sequins above the audience; “Jump”; and “Live to Tell / Confessions Transition.”

Madonna's twist on her “Live to Tell,” in which images of children with AIDS or who have been abused are flashed on the big screen, is certain to be a hot topic during the tour. Madonna's entrance during the ballad has her secured to a large silver, mirrored cross with a crown of thorns atop her blond mane.

The singer has never shied away from pushing the envelope, but even I was a little shocked by her gutsiness. The song is now a plea to help the world's troubled children, and Web sites for www.clintonfoundation.org and a Malawi charity were pitched.

Controversy continued in the Bedouin section with “Forbidden Love,” in which two perfectly sculpted male dancers with six-pack abs had something in mind that's not heterosexual; followed by the Middle Eastern-tinged “Isaac,” which had some Jews upset even before the “Confessions” CD was released; then “Sorry,” a crowd favorite and a showcase for her talented and incredibly fit dancers.

During the “Sorry Remix Krump Transition,” Madonna's choices for the world's evil leaders are flashed on the big screen. After President George W. Bush's image is shown, Madonna uses her middle finger to make her statement to the president. After the line, I've listened to all your lies and all your stories, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's image appears. OK, but tell me, how do you really feel about the administration?

The third section, Never Mind the Bollocks, was my least favorite of the high-energy and provocative evening. Madonna, with electric guitar in hand, rocked out to “I Love New York” and an enjoyable and very loud “Ray of Light.” But the acoustic “Drowned World” and “Paradise Not For Me” were pleasant if a little uninspired. Lest you forget that Madonna has an opinion, she changed a line in “I Love New York,” just as she did at Coachella last month, that instructed detractors to perform a certain sexual act on the president.

Madonna ended her confessional evening with what she has been doing best in recent years: dance music. The highlight of the evening was roller skaters and Madonna and two female dancers dressed in white suits during “Music.” The remixes continued with “Erotica,” which included odd dance-school-class choreography, “La Isla Bonita,” “Lucky Star” and the crowd-pleasing closer, “Hung Up.”

After two hours in the Forum, aka giant 120-degree sauna, a final message flashed on the big screen asking: Have you confessed?

Here's my confession: My name is Don, and I'm a Madonnaholic.

In the audience on opening night were Rosie O'Donnell, Nicole Richie (looking badly in need of a bath and a hamburger), Melinda Clarke of “The O.C.,” Salma Hayek, and Madonna's über-publicist, Liz Rosenberg.

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